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Lunging and temprament

tojvan

tojvan

Well-Known Member
Trigger has really started acting out recently, he constantly lunges at people if i'm not making him heal and on more than one occasion he has barked at passerbies. Just recently i was approached by some random person doing survey as soon as he was within range trigger lunged at him. i quickly pulled the leash and made him sit, while we were talking i noticed trigger was watching him like a hawk and apparently the pen the surveyor had ran out of ink so he went back to grab a pen from his colleague. As he was coming back the surveyor ran straight at me and within seconds trigger had lunged at him snarling and growling and that was my wake up call from lala land. Today he was barking his brains out at these two kids rough housing each other.

so my question is should i correct him and try curbing the behavior a little bit. i have corrected him and he seems to listen for now. But i don't want to be too harsh on him since he is really young, a full blown correction isn't an option either, the intensity is the tricky part. how much is enough for a 4.5 month puppy?
 
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BlackShadowCaneCorso

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
fila or fila cross, right?

If I am remembering correctly he is behaving exactly as they are supposed to and I would have told the surveyor to back off as he doesn't like people. It is just that simply with a fila, they hate people outside of their family.
 
chuckorlando

chuckorlando

Well-Known Member
Just keep socializing. Kona was way harder as a pup. Right now the pup dont know good from bad. As they mature, with alot of socialization, the confidence will grow. Pups just figuring it's self out. You can correct the pup but dont be harsh. But that correction should help the dog know threat from non threat.
 
chuckorlando

chuckorlando

Well-Known Member
To add to that, the idea, least for me, is the dog to have faith in your judgment. If you seem to be fine, the dog can relax. Untill there is a real threat, or at least a reasonable reason to think somethings a threat like swinging arms
 
Mooshi's Mummy

Mooshi's Mummy

Well-Known Member
I thought so too...agree with Mary, you should have told surveyor to back off and remember that this is a Fila and they do not like strangers, at all, end of story.
 
BlackShadowCaneCorso

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
sorry should have posted more. In no way shape or form should you stop socializing, it is what makes a confident dog to get them out and seeing everything. But in the case of a Fila know their inbred hatred of other humans outside the family and keep others out of her strike zone to keep both your puppy and people safe.
 
chuckorlando

chuckorlando

Well-Known Member
BlackShadowCaneCorso said:
sorry should have posted more. In no way shape or form should you stop socializing, it is what makes a confident dog to get them out and seeing everything. But in the case of a Fila know their inbred hatred of other humans outside the family and keep others out of her strike zone to keep both your puppy and people safe.
Click to expand...

Just cause my dogs from the south does not make her an inbred . AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
BlackShadowCaneCorso

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
You are such a smart a$$ and I should know to double check what I am posting so that it makes sense. And I would have to call for a vote on the inbreding of you not the dog LMAO!
 
tojvan

tojvan

Well-Known Member
Thank you guys for all you advice really appreciate the help; yea I think I'm going to up the socialization a notch and start showing my displeasure with the Verbal NO, he associates it with stoping whatever he is doing. Hopefully it works, If that doesn't work ill start with soft correction like a nudge to the shoulder to snap him out of it. I mean him lunging right now might not be a big deal right now but a 150 pound dog lunging isn't going to be so fun!
 
girldogue

girldogue

Well-Known Member
praise him and ask him to settle down or leave it or whatever command you want to consistently use to make him stop acting like a boob. I do not tell my dogs no when they are puppies but I also do not want them thinking it is okay to flail about and make a scene for no reason. I never stop socializing my dogs - I want them to have manners where I take them - but I try to never put them in a situation that they will be expected to be really close to a stranger. The more time you put into any dog the better companion you will have. I wish I could take my dogs everyehere but unfortunately it is not a reality. My filas have been all over the place and still act like filas if they think the situation dictates it - and that means people they don't know have to be kept a safe distance away. In this pic- there are people on the path we were walking on - gotta have eyes in the back of your head- LOL - my son knows to tell me if he sees people coming toward us - yesterday was a real challenge - we had 2 people on bikes come crashing out of the woods as we were walking then a others jogging - I don't want my dog making a scene - but he is grumbling and eagle eyes are on them as soon as his radar locks onto them - I keep a leather lead with me if I am using the belt flexi-lead for moments like this
 

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angelbears

angelbears

Well-Known Member
What girldogue said. I usually tell Cane, "good boy" but then I follow that with, "calm". Sometimes it works, sometimes not. LOL

At around 6 months no one was allowed to touch Cane except us, the vet and vet tech. We got lucky and he let us know that he would no longer tolerate people coming up to him, treat or not! We used to take Cane out to community garage sales to expose him to people and sounds. A guy comes up by the truck, Cane is in the back seat and says "can I pet him"? I said sure, just let me come around to the passenger side and you can try to give him a treat. Well, as I was getting out of the truck I heard the guy say " all dogs like me" while reaching in to pet him. Cane didn't. Like lightning he grabbed his hand and just as quickly spit it out. Luckily he was young and didn't have the nerve to seal the deal.
 
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